I'm having second thoughts on becoming a MD

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exacto

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It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?

I'm thinking of switching to physical therapy or maybe even nursing so I can be with my family...

can people chime in and tell me if I'm correct or does it get better in the long run?

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Hmmm.... Well I agree with your experience, Drs tend to be really pessimistic about their careers (not all though), yet ironically they don't see their own happiness. Coming from a family of Drs, I can assure you that people nag a lot and seem to have this skewed idea of anything being better than med. An acquaintance of mine is in the middle of her residency, and even though she complains about the immense fatigue and lack of free time, she always says that she has no regrets and loves medicine.
Additionally, a lot of people have children and make time to be active in their lives but that still depends on different criteria, including the future specialty you'll choose. But, I think you'll be able to find a balance especially given the different specialties available.
My advice is, if you really LOVE medicine and if you feel that other options will make you miserable then stick to the plan and go med. And no I'm not saying it's an easy road, it will be emotionally and physically draining but eventually you will reap the benefits. That's my opinion at least.
 
Remember the fact that people who are unhappy tend to be vocal about it and complain a lot, whereas people who are happy often don't need to shout it to the world. Instead, they go on living their happy lives. There are plenty of people in medicine that love their jobs. It's also important to realize that the complaints many doctors have aren't unique to medicine, and those people would likely be unhappy in other careers as well.
 
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Going to medical school requires a huge commitment of time/energy. Working as a doctor is a huge commitment pretty much regardless of specialty. I think anybody who doesn't have second thoughts and cold feet about the process at some point might not have a good idea of what they're getting themselves into.
 
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How much clinical exposure/experience have you gotten? How much shadowing?
Truth is, depending on your whole situation--financially and otherwise--yes. You may have to defer some of your personal goals. After MS--residency and possible fellowship, etc, it depends on the kind of physician (specialty) you pursue.
Depends on what really drives you to become a physician. There is nothing wrong with wanting to put having a family as primary.

No one can answer this but you. Try to get more direct, clinical exposure and shadowing with a number of physicians.
Good luck.
 
I think you heard it correctly from the doctors you interacted with. A physician is an emotional, mental, and physicially draining career. However there are many different types of physicians, so maybe if you enjoy a 8-4 work schedule then you should consider shadowing/talking to those physicians (family medicine/pediatricians). Regardless your medical school education (7-8 years) will be immensely overwhelming. Part of the job and you have to get used to it. If you are interested in healthcare there are other jobs than the one you listed that aren't as demanding: PA or antheisiology assistant.
 
I'll try to expand on what others have said and try to put some numbers on things.

Assuming that you are 21 years old right now and are a Sophomore in undergrad...

Step 1: You have two more years of pre-med/time prior to starting medical school. People's experiences range widely. Some people don't study very much, take the MCAT, enjoy the time before medical school and then start. Some people live in the library and spend 60-80 hrs/week either in class or studying. The vast majority fall somewhere in between. Only you know how you will spend these remaining two years preparing for medical school compared to other careers. Will it be 10 hours a week? 20 hours a week? 50 hours a week? 80 hours a week? It is very difficult to have hobbies, socialize, romantic relationships etc. working 80+ hours a week. You can have some, but certainly can not have it all. The time after interviewing and before starting medical school is relatively free time ~6-8 months. Little pressure to work your ass off, but it is limited, finite.

Step 2: Pre-clinical years. The dirty little (not so well kept) secret of pre-med is that no matter what you do prior to medical school, everyone starts on the same page on day one. Some people are better prepared to take on medical school, but content wise, virtually everyone starts on the same page. The range is wide. In terms of time spent studying/in class/in school, I'd say the range is 15-80 hours per week. How much time YOU spend studying depends on two big factors. #1 How good of a student you are. #2 What your goals are. If you are the kind of person that needs to be near the top of your class, but needs to work extra hard compared to those students that 'just get it' or have an eidetic memory, be prepared to give up a considerable amount of time. Remember, by the time you finish your pre-clinical years, you will be 25 years old. Depending on what state you live in and your gender, half the people in your demographic will already be married (~10/50 states for women).

Step 3: Clinical years. 50-90 hours per week is standard at most medical schools. Depends on what rotation you are on and what site you are at more than who you are as an individual. Yes, you can cut corners. Yes, you can bugger off early, but your clinical grades will suffer considerably and will be hurt in the match. While you aren't 'working', your schedule functions like that of a job. People are pretty understanding of medical students needing personal time or upkeep on their relationships, but you can not expect to be out early to pick kids up from school. You can't expect to make dinner every night. You can't expect to be able to have the free time for everything.

Step 4: Residency. 3 to 9 years. 60-100 hours per week. Yes, you are capped (for the most part) to 80 hours a week. But, those are limits on your clinical duties. Gotta do presentations, studying for boards/inservice exams, research, etc as well. By the time you START residency, you will be 27. In all but the Northeast, if you are a woman, more than half of your demographic will be married. (44/50 states) You know all that drama on medical TV shows? Yes, it is fake, bs, total garbage 90% of the time. But, that 10% that happens because doctors put their patients first? That is real. Sometimes you can't leave. Okay, you can. But, a patient suffers as a result. You should not be going into medicine if this isn't okay with you. You should want to stay. Maybe want to figure out a way so that it doesn't happen in the future. But, you gotta be willing to stay.

Step 5: Real doctor! Okay, so now you are somewhere between 30 and 36 years old. If you are the average person, you have never worked less than 50 hours per week and most of the time have been working 70+ hours per week. Now, you have to join a practice, private or academic, you are still the junior most partner. You have to prove that you belong. You have to bring in the cash flow or teach or whatever it is that you want to do. In surgery, that means a lot of call. That means working HARDER and LONGER than as a resident. In other specialties, maybe not so much, but it isn't exactly a cake walk.


I'm an optimist. Honestly, I'm the happiest person that I know. I am married and have been with my wife for 10 years now. We do not have kids or plan to have them. You can be a doctor and be happily married, have a family, etc etc. But, it is harder. Anyone that tells you differently is either trolling you or delusional. If having a family and a family life is the end all be all, medicine is going to make life difficult over the next decade plus. Is it possible? Yes. Does it mean sacrificing other things? Absolutely. A lot of it comes down to what your spouse is doing both in terms of career and family.
 
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I'll try to expand on what others have said and try to put some numbers on things.

Assuming that you are 21 years old right now and are a Sophomore in undergrad...

Step 1: You have two more years of pre-med/time prior to starting medical school. People's experiences range widely. Some people don't study very much, take the MCAT, enjoy the time before medical school and then start. Some people live in the library and spend 60-80 hrs/week either in class or studying. The vast majority fall somewhere in between. Only you know how you will spend these remaining two years preparing for medical school compared to other careers. Will it be 10 hours a week? 20 hours a week? 50 hours a week? 80 hours a week? It is very difficult to have hobbies, socialize, romantic relationships etc. working 80+ hours a week. You can have some, but certainly can not have it all. The time after interviewing and before starting medical school is relatively free time ~6-8 months. Little pressure to work your ass off, but it is limited, finite.

Step 2: Pre-clinical years. The dirty little (not so well kept) secret of pre-med is that no matter what you do prior to medical school, everyone starts on the same page on day one. Some people are better prepared to take on medical school, but content wise, virtually everyone starts on the same page. The range is wide. In terms of time spent studying/in class/in school, I'd say the range is 15-80 hours per week. How much time YOU spend studying depends on two big factors. #1 How good of a student you are. #2 What your goals are. If you are the kind of person that needs to be near the top of your class, but needs to work extra hard compared to those students that 'just get it' or have an eidetic memory, be prepared to give up a considerable amount of time. Remember, by the time you finish your pre-clinical years, you will be 25 years old. Depending on what state you live in and your gender, half the people in your demographic will already be married (~10/50 states for women).

Step 3: Clinical years. 50-90 hours per week is standard at most medical schools. Depends on what rotation you are on and what site you are at more than who you are as an individual. Yes, you can cut corners. Yes, you can bugger off early, but your clinical grades will suffer considerably and will be hurt in the match. While you aren't 'working', your schedule functions like that of a job. People are pretty understanding of medical students needing personal time or upkeep on their relationships, but you can not expect to be out early to pick kids up from school. You can't expect to make dinner every night. You can't expect to be able to have the free time for everything.

Step 4: Residency. 3 to 9 years. 60-100 hours per week. Yes, you are capped (for the most part) to 80 hours a week. But, those are limits on your clinical duties. Gotta do presentations, studying for boards/inservice exams, research, etc as well. By the time you START residency, you will be 27. In all but the Northeast, if you are a woman, more than half of your demographic will be married. (44/50 states) You know all that drama on medical TV shows? Yes, it is fake, bs, total garbage 90% of the time. But, that 10% that happens because doctors put their patients first? That is real. Sometimes you can't leave. Okay, you can. But, a patient suffers as a result. You should not be going into medicine if this isn't okay with you. You should want to stay. Maybe want to figure out a way so that it doesn't happen in the future. But, you gotta be willing to stay.

Step 5: Real doctor! Okay, so now you are somewhere between 30 and 36 years old. If you are the average person, you have never worked less than 50 hours per week and most of the time have been working 70+ hours per week. Now, you have to join a practice, private or academic, you are still the junior most partner. You have to prove that you belong. You have to bring in the cash flow or teach or whatever it is that you want to do. In surgery, that means a lot of call. That means working HARDER and LONGER than as a resident. In other specialties, maybe not so much, but it isn't exactly a cake walk.


I'm an optimist. Honestly, I'm the happiest person that I know. I am married and have been with my wife for 10 years now. We do not have kids or plan to have them. You can be a doctor and be happily married, have a family, etc etc. But, it is harder. Anyone that tells you differently is either trolling you or delusional. If having a family and a family life is the end all be all, medicine is going to make life difficult over the next decade plus. Is it possible? Yes. Does it mean sacrificing other things? Absolutely. A lot of it comes down to what your spouse is doing both in terms of career and family.

Thank you for that detailed timeline. I think a lot of us pre-meds (me included) can benefit by reading your posts. What I'm getting from your posts is that don't do medicine for the money, lifestyle, prestige etc. Do it because you absolutely love medicine and don't mind working 80+ hours per week for the rest of your life. I sometimes do feel frustrated because even though we do physician shadowing, clinical volunteering etc. as pre-meds it's still hard to fathom what we're signing up for by joining medical school. And once we have signed that six figure loan agreement, we're locked in, whether we have second thoughts or not. That to me, and I hope to a lot of other pre-meds, is the scariest part of this whole medical school application process. How do we pay back those huge loans if we decide medicine is not for us after joining med school?

Also, do you think there will be more time for family, especially after residency but maybe during also, if one chooses a non-surgical field?
 
Have you shadowed doctors?

Have you been around patients?

What does your heart tell you?

Nothing is easy in this world, especially if you want something badly. Medicine is a calling.


It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?

I'm thinking of switching to physical therapy or maybe even nursing so I can be with my family...

can people chime in and tell me if I'm correct or does it get better in the long run?
 
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Thank you for that detailed timeline. I think a lot of us pre-meds (me included) can benefit by reading your posts. What I'm getting from your posts is that don't do medicine for the money, lifestyle, prestige etc. Do it because you absolutely love medicine and don't mind working 80+ hours per week for the rest of your life. I sometimes do feel frustrated because even though we do physician shadowing, clinical volunteering etc. as pre-meds it's still hard to fathom what we're signing up for by joining medical school. And once we have signed that six figure loan agreement, we're locked in, whether we have second thoughts or not. That to me, and I hope to a lot of other pre-meds, is the scariest part of this whole medical school application process. How do we pay back those huge loans if we decide medicine is not for us after joining med school?

Also, do you think there will be more time for family, especially after residency but maybe during also, if one chooses a non-surgical field?

I've known something like 5 post-residency doctors in my life, and only one of them worked close to 80 hours a week. The other four worked 8-5, 9-6, plus they read medical literature on the weekends with their very happy families. Most take a month or more off for vacation. One intentionally went half time after paying off her student loans, and still makes high five figures - a very nice salary for most people who work twice as hard.

Mind you, I'm not saying that 80% of physicians work 9-6. All of them enjoy learning about medicine, which can take up a decent amount of time (and can be done at home). But at least four physicians have made it work.

Don't let the exhausted workaholics define this profession for you. There are choices out there. Residency ends.
 
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I work ~200 days a year, have limited call, I'm out by 4 most days putting in about 50 hrs a week, and am part of an interesting and challenging academic practice at a large children's hospital taking care of a bunch of sick kids that, unlike many adults, did nothing to make themselves sick. I get plenty of vacation and make more money than I can spend, and I'm not particularly frugal. It's very rewarding.
 
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I've shadowed a couple of doctors, a pediatrician and a children orthopedic, and am trying to shadow more, but it's hard to find ones willing to let me shadow.

I want to go into sports medicine or orthopedic surgery, but i feel like those are super time consuming and if i do follow up with medical school, i might choose a less intensive doctor choice than those...

I really, really want to help people and become a doctor and I'm willing to sacrifice my life for a couple years, but i want to come out of the "tunnel" at some point and live like a normal happy person as well down the road. I know money isnt everything and im not going into medicine to get money, but i do want money to support my family and live well, not frivolously, but yes money is important to me...

Medicine is hard...haha
 
Medicine is a big field and there are careers with different time commitments. I completely agree with you and am having second thoughts myself at times. Can I pursue my hobbies if I go to med school? Will getting an MD result in me earning less due to loans? Will I be happy in the rigorous study routine of med school? Will the stress of med school + residency shorten my lifespan- am I going to have a MI at 40?

Look into becoming a PA as well. They work fewer hours and have shorter training. If you love medicine but want to work about 35-40 hours a week, this career balances your love of medicine with your planned time commitment.
 
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Just curious but what other good jobs are in the medical field that help people/hands on?

so far i have:
-Physician assistant
-Physical therapist
-Nurse practitioner
-
 
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Just curious but what other good jobs are in the medical field that help people/hands on?

so far i have:
-Physician assistant
-Physical therapist
-Nurse practitioner
-

Podiatry has less stressful residencies. Still bad, just not as bad.
 
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Podiatry has less stressful residencies. Still bad, just not as bad.

I believe the work hours for podiatry after residency are also quite reasonable and enable one to be actively involved in family life.
 
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For podiatry, how do you feel about surgery? The well-paid podiatrists do a lot of wound care and limb salvage. America is in the midst of a type 2 diabetes epidemic and you will see some pretty severe cases. You will smell some pretty severe cases. It's a neat field that's expected to grow, however, and very accommodating to low GPA/MCAT applicants who want to take on an important role in medicine.
 
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It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?

I'm thinking of switching to physical therapy or maybe even nursing so I can be with my family...

can people chime in and tell me if I'm correct or does it get better in the long run?
people also just like bitching
 
Good thing you're not in med school.
 
what are you trying to say?
That it's a good thing that you aren't in med school considering you are unsure whether or not you want to be a doctor?

Reading comprehension.
 
My father is an MD (cardiologist) and I never felt like he was absent in my life growing up.
 
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Reading SDN gives me:

a) second thoughts
b) feeling apathetic about getting a 4.0 GPA
 
- You will probably gain weight and not look physically as nicely by the time you become a doc


lol wtf? how is this a negative for medicine? in all cases you don't look physically as good by the time you're 35.....lol.

also this is true to different extents for men and women, dudes definitely can look peak into their 30s, women have a harder time with their metabolism
 
It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?
You can absolutely be an involved, loving father to your kids and husband to your spouse as a doctor. People do this everyday, so as long as you understand what your priorities are I think you can still easily justify pursuing medicine as a rewarding career.
 
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You can absolutely be an involved, loving father to your kids and husband to your spouse as a doctor. People do this everyday, so as long as you understand what your priorities are I think you can still easily justify pursuing medicine as a rewarding career.

I think this really is the problem. A lot of people want to say that their priorities are family, work life balance, etc, but when it comes time to put it to the test, they're uncomfortable or unwilling to make the lifestyle and career adjustments to make that happen. The truth is that no one can have it all. We're finite creatures with finite capacities for love, work, and everything in between. At some point you have to learn to put your foot down and say, "no thanks, I'd rather do ______". It's hard when you're surrounded by workaholics with different priorities, but don't get sucked in by them unless you want to...if you feel like your work fulfills and even defines you, there's nothing wrong with that and you should have at it and make your mark on the world.
 
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have you looked around ? prob >50% of physicians are overweight, out of shape, bad nutrition. not all of them but certainly a lot. @getthelead, you have any experience to back that up
Have you looked around? Probably 60% of Americans are overweight and many are obese. I can probably count the truly obese physicians at my 400+ bed hospital with one hand, maybe 2. The ones there that are obese are nurses and support staff. There are countless overweight and obese non physician employees. Everywhere you look you'll find them. I live in an upscale suburb in a community of professionals. The physicians and their wives are among the healthiest.
 
Telling some beer swilling, couch denting fat slug that that they're going to have to lose weight or risk diabetes, vascular disease and an early oversized coffin is just as true regardless if the message is delivered by Natalie Portman or Chris Christie.
 
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Yeah except it looks pretty bad for a physician to counsel his or her patient to lose weight or whatever if he or she is a whale him or herself. In the same way you wouldn't hire a trainer that was out of shape to coach you or a FP whose house was in foreclosure. Well at least I wouldn't.oh and obese and overweight are pretty different. You've taken what I said to the extreme .

a obese patient might relate to a obese physician more than a slim n trim physician. The obese physician understands intimately what it's like to be obese, the way people look at you, the way overeating on fatty sugary foods can be used as a coping mechanism for life's many stresses. The obese physician can tell her patient that she has to follow her own advice and that she knows the advice is tough to follow. Heck, maybe they can even join or start a weight loss support group together.
 
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It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?

I'm thinking of switching to physical therapy or maybe even nursing so I can be with my family...

can people chime in and tell me if I'm correct or does it get better in the long run?
One thing no one has asked here is how do you define "supporting father in their lives"? Once you know this, we'll be able to tell you whether medicine can realistically offer this option to you.
 
people also just like bitching
Most medical students also do not have the experience that you and mimelim have. You can label that "bitching". I would say you two are probably 1-2 standard deviations above your average medical student in terms of fully enjoying your med school experience.
 
Haha how did this thread get side railed into being an obese/overweight doctor??? I'm in very good shape and plan on keeping in good shape until the big man upstairs ( or downstairs...) comes a knocking... no need to argue about that point.

One thing no one has asked here is how do you define "supporting father in their lives"? Once you know this, we'll be able to tell you whether medicine can realistically offer this option to you.

this is a good question. In terms of being a good father is one that im actively in the kids life. Say he has a school project, i want to help him on it. say he has a base ball game, i want to practice with him and go to his games, i also don't want my child being raised by another person other than myself of my wife for extended periods of times...outside of school of course. Basically i want to be able to do things iwth my kids besides jsut come home and kiss him goodnight...hopefully that makes sense.
 
this is a good question. In terms of being a good father is one that im actively in the kids life. Say he has a school project, i want to help him on it. say he has a base ball game, i want to practice with him and go to his games, i also don't want my child being raised by another person other than myself of my wife for extended periods of times...outside of school of course. Basically i want to be able to do things iwth my kids besides jsut come home and kiss him goodnight...hopefully that makes sense.
Makes perfect sense. It's great that you're actually being honest with yourself in what you want in terms of your career and your life outside your career. That being said, based on what you've described, lifestyle is very important to to you - absolutely nothing wrong with that, but that is what it seems. While there are specialties that do afford a good lifestyle as an attending and even some during residency, many of those specialties can be quite competitive - exceptions being Path, Psych, PM&R (for now), maybe Rads. Derm (competitive), Optho (competitive), ENT (competitive, uncontrolled lifestyle in residency), Urology (competitive, uncontrolled lifestyle in residency), Rad Onc (competitive), Emergency Med. The verdict on whether Family Med is a lifestyle specialty is probably 50/50 depending on who you talk to which is more ingrained in the practice model than the specialty itself. Many specialties require some sort of call, or at least carrying a pager for the possibility of coming in. Is that something you're ok with?

Part of what makes the physician pathway a little bit more daunting is the number of years involved: 4 years college + 4 years med school + 3-7 years residency + 1-3 years fellowship. If that's something that is hard to stomach or which you have any lingering doubts about, then as mentioned above the PA pathway would be better in terms of number of years. PAs have less responsibility overall, and is much more lifestyle friendly (with no residency to boot) and the ability to switch between specialties, readily.

Another the thing, the last people to take advice from on whether pursuing the MD is worth it or not, is from premeds (as demonstrated here), many of whom are currently going thru the application cycle. Just glancing above @mimelim and @Goro really are giving good advice in explaining the realities.
 
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this is a good question. In terms of being a good father is one that im actively in the kids life. Say he has a school project, i want to help him on it. say he has a base ball game, i want to practice with him and go to his games, i also don't want my child being raised by another person other than myself of my wife for extended periods of times...outside of school of course. Basically i want to be able to do things iwth my kids besides jsut come home and kiss him goodnight...hopefully that makes sense.

Just to add a little to @DermViser.

I'll be blunt and as realistic as I can be.

As a clinical medical student, resident and attending, regardless of specialty you go into, you are going to miss school projects, baseball games, practices, kissing them goodnight etc. Will you miss it all the time? No. What you go into and the kind of student you are will dictate how much you miss. But, your patients come first. They always come first. If you decide that you like the fields that DV highlighted (Path, Psych, PM&R etc.) What you miss will be relatively minimal. Medical school will not be as brutal, residency will be more of a normal job. If you pick the program right, you could even be somewhere in the normal hours range. If you choose not to study outside of your training and do the minimum, you can probably get away with 40-60 hours a week. But, at that point you have to really think if there is any point. Half-assing medicine never works out well.

I know someone who had 3 kids coming into medical school and 5 by the time he graduated. Probably one of the best fathers that I know. He also had a stay at home wife, quite a bit of savings from working finance prior to medical school, the ability to sleep ~4-5 hours a night and an amazingly optimistic and can-do attitude. I always told him that he was crazy, but he wanted it all, so he did it all. Possible? Yes. Hard? Absolutely.

That is the best case scenario. It is not uncommon for surgical residents to not see their kids awake for 3-4 weeks at a time. Hence why I don't have kids.
 
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A lot of schools will not work with you on year 1 and year 2, when you are doing rotations it is easier to get time off. I heard it is near impossible to have a child y1 or y2 without deterring a year.
 
I will be entering medical school in my late 20s hopefully when am 26, I'm planning to be pregnant my second year, 4th year (as I heard 4th year is usually laid back) and also first year of residency (hopefully pathology or oncology). My question is, is it too hard to be pregnant in medical school and residency? I'm hoping to have the first 2 children in medical school and the last 2 or 3 during residency.
While you are technically hijacking someone's thread (feel free to post your own thread to answer your question so you get more responses), the ones who I know got pregnant did so in 4th year of med school. Residency is also a possibbility but I believe it highly depends on specialty. That being said - people do it on Surgery and OB-Gyn residencies all the time as legally there is nothing the program can do about it.
 
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I thought about med school at one point when I was in my twenties. I had second thoughts. I took a path into research and ended up on a med school adcom. Life is funny that way.
 
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I thought about med school at one point when I was in my twenties. I had second thoughts. I took a path into research and ended up on a med school adcom. Life is funny that way.
I guess it really did come full circle. lol.

I think it's a good thing when premeds ask these questions before just hopping in. It shows quite a bit of good introspection on the realities rather than just saying I'll deal with it when I get there.
 
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I will be entering medical school in my late 20s hopefully when am 26, I'm planning to be pregnant my second year, 4th year (as I heard 4th year is usually laid back) and also first year of residency (hopefully pathology or oncology). My question is, is it too hard to be pregnant in medical school and residency? I'm hoping to have the first 2 children in medical school and the last 2 or 3 during residency.

I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself since you aren't even in medical school (and I mean that in a nice way!). You have plenty of time between now and then to figure it out so there's no need to stress. I imagine once you start your first year you'll have a better idea of what the workload will be and you can decide from there if you even want to start having kids immediately. Also, your ideas (or your partners) of how many kids you want may change drastically between now and then.
 
As someone who at times feels lost somewhere in between the two worlds that are PA school and Medical School, I find these threads extremely helpful. It's refreshing to see that there are other future healthcare professionals with doubts/fears similar to mine and I think for me it's just reassuring to know that I am not alone weighing the pros and cons of both professions in the context of personal/familial sacrifice.

OP, I commend you for taking the time to think of medical school in the context of your own life. Too often, I think we as human beings like to compare what we have and/or how we feel about something, with how those around us feel. Typically I will read through threads like this and think, "well if he/she can get through medical school with a significant other/starting a family/missing family functions, etc."--whatever the case may be--"then of course I can do it too!" Mentally, it's a bad trap that can lead to a vicious cycle of doubt, a search for reassurance, validation, and then more doubt (if that makes any sense). I've struggled with these thoughts for a little while now; however, I do believe that in the end, all of this careful thought will pay dividends and I will love what I ultimately choose in the healthcare world. Just my .02

I will also say that I am not the type of person to "take life as it comes," or "worry about it when the time comes." A friend of mine, recently accepted into med school, prefers that approach and my question to him has always been, "when do you know that the time has come? Is it when your significant other is walking out the door? Is it when your kids have reached the age of 10 and you realize you don't remember years 1-9?" When is the time when you start to worry about life?

As a Rads friend of mine told me the other day, "In healthcare, there are many ways to make a significantly positive impact on the life of a patient. Being a doctor doesn't represent the only way to care for others, but it does mean that you're at the top of the food chain."
 
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Just because you're married doesn't mean you have a good marriage. Just because you have kids doesn't make you a loving, supportive father. Just because you're a doctor doesn't mean you're a good person.

The people who say they;ll figure it out later will be the ones who are on their fourth marriage and kids cut contact with them in 18 years. Not having a plan is the biggest mistake you can ever make.

@ Lizzy M are you an ADCOM at FIU?

My location is "top secret" and I do not affirm or deny any guesses.
 
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OP, I think the viewpoint about whether an MD is "worth it" depends so much on the lifecycle of that journey. You ask a pre-med student who's talking to a few med schools, the answer is a very loud, "If only!" If you're talking to someone in medical school, studying for yet another major test or a resident pulling in another very, very long day at the hospital, the answer would be, "Look what did I get myself into!" And if you're talking to someone who's in the later stages of that trajectory, like poster # 11, where he/she is able to experience the rewards of that effort, the answer would be, "Yes!"

Right now, my cousin tells me over and over again how hard this process for her has been. With college education bills still to pay off, plus med school, she and her husband couldn't possibly get off the tracks to take time out to have children. She gets really sad when she realizes what she's missing. All of her buddies are having kids and they are in such a money crunch, I really feel for her. She reminds me all the time that this is a huge commitment and to be really, really sure.
 
It's not that i cant do the work or take the stress, but the more people i talk to the more awful the job sounds. Every book or story i hear about doctors is that they are over worked and the little free time you have off is used to sleep/eat to catch up to normal...these parts do no sound enjoyable to me. Also the fact that i want to have a family and a wife and children, and become a supporting father in their lives and i dont know if that is possible as a doctor?

I'm thinking of switching to physical therapy or maybe even nursing so I can be with my family...

can people chime in and tell me if I'm correct or does it get better in the long run?

You can't ignore that there are some really grimy things about medicine... as with anything that dabbles with big money, politics, and bureaucracy. I'm being euphemistic here, of course, because doctors have a pretty high rate of committing suicide relative to other professions.

In the end, every job has its ups and downs. It's your 'murican freedom to choose a job with ups and downs you can tolerate. It's about you and your preferences, not other people's.

If you are family oriented, then choose a chillax specialty (but check the competitiveness). If you were really specific about specialties but still want family flexibility, then choose the PA route. You have choices dammit.

And man, you need to figure this sort of thing out for yourself. You can't rely on random strangers on the web to do jack snap, especially when your life is on the line.

But this one stranger will put this here for you: http://www.thebestschools.org/blog/2012/01/29/10-highest-paying-healthcare-jobs/

-Peace
 
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